Panthers blank Calera in baseball battle
Published 11:07 pm Thursday, March 19, 2015
By Brandon Sumrall/Special to the Advertiser
An offensive struggle by both teams ended with Jemison’s baseball team picking up a 2-0 win over the Calera Eagles on Thursday evening.
A Matthew Marfice single for the Eagles and a single by Logan Ray for the Panthers (13-7 overall) turned out to be all of the offense in the first inning.
The Eagles (2-12 overall; 0-2 area) went down in order in the top of the second while Chase Deason reached base for the Panthers on a hit by pitch in the bottom half of the inning, but a two-out dropped third strike ended in a throw down to first to end the second.
An error by the Panthers on a two-out infield ground ball by Will Glasscock gave the Eagles a baserunner, but another strikeout by Panther pitcher Banks Woodley brought the top of the third inning to a close.
Trae Sanders started the third inning with a leadoff single on an error by the Eagles, and with
Tremon Bryant taking his place as a pinch runner, a infield ground ball by Phillip Lenoir resulted in the game’s first run to give Jemison a 1-0 lead after three innings of play.
Marfice started the top of the fourth with a single to the left side and reached as far as second base before a ground ball back to the mound and consecutive strikeouts ended the Calera scoring threat.
Both teams went down in order through the fifth inning, while Glasscock started the sixth by reaching first after being hit by a pitch, but three straight outs by the Eagles left Calera with a man stranded on second.
A one-out double to right field by Phillip Lenoir in the top of the sixth set up a run-scoring single by Will Johns to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead going to the top of the seventh.
A fly ball to left field brought the game to its final two outs, while a ground ball by Kevin Dowdell gave the Eagles a base runner with one out.
With nine strikeouts already to his credit, two more outs via strikeout by Woodley gave the Panthers the win.
Logan Ray led the Panthers at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance with two singles and an RBI.
Woodley pitched a complete game shutout while allowing three hits and 11 strikeouts.
Marfice went 2-for-3 for the Eagles with two singles while also pitching six innings with three hits, four strikeouts and one earned run.